combat in darkness

[limejuicepowder]

I'm planning a ship-to-ship combat in the game I'm DMing. The party just got to level 6 - crusader, combat cleric (not using DMM though), and a factotum. The basic encounter will involve the ship they are traveling on being attacked by goblin pirates.

The pirates are going to approach at night. Their adepts will blanket the ship in darkness spells, and the warriors will follow that with bags of caltrops and barrels of poisonous snakes (the barrels will break on contact, flooding the deck with snakes). The goblins will then board. Each of the goblins are wearing specially reinforced boots and greaves, making them immune to the caltrops and snakes, and thanks to their darkvision they don't worry about the darkness spells either. Flanking will be used heavily, along with barrages of arrows from the rigging.

I anticipate the characters to be sleeping at the time, meaning they will be donning their armor hastily (probably).

Anyways, what I'm trying to achieve in this battle is chaos. I want the players to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of weak monsters using cunning tactics. Assuming everything goes as planned, the characters will only be able to see a few of the dozens of goblins on board. What is the best way to keep track of enemies the players can't even see? And what kind of contingency plans do you think are appropriate for the goblins if, say, the cleric casts a working "light" spell (or similar)?

In case anyone recognizes it, yes, I got this encounter from stormwrack.

[tyckspoon]

Skip the darkness spells.. or rather, save them for countering the party's attempts to use magic to bring light; it actually creates illumination in a naturally dark situation ("This spell causes an object to radiate shadowy illumination..") and darkvision doesn't allow you to see through magically-created darkness- being in a Darkness spell actually equalizes the goblins and their non-seeing-in-the-dark targets. The goblins are better off using mundane methods (putting out torches, throwing a thick bag over sunrods/Continual Flame'd items, etc) to extinguish any lights on board already and then relying on their own darkvision.

[Elric VIII]

First of all, Darkvision does not work in magical Darkness.



Darkness
Evocation [Darkness]
Level: Brd 2, Clr 2, Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Object touched
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell causes an object to radiate shadowy illumination out to a 20-foot radius. All creatures in the area gain concealment (20% miss chance). Even creatures that can normally see in such conditions (such as with darkvision or low-light vision) have the miss chance in an area shrouded in magical darkness.

Normal lights (torches, candles, lanterns, and so forth) are incapable of brightening the area, as are light spells of lower level. Higher level light spells are not affected by darkness.

If darkness is cast on a small object that is then placed inside or under a lightproof covering, the spell’s effect is blocked until the covering is removed.

Darkness counters or dispels any light spell of equal or lower spell level.

Arcane Material Component
A bit of bat fur and either a drop of pitch or a piece of coal.

Aside from that, I would make a chart with all of the goblins and their respective health. Determine the probability of a goblin in a given square ([total number of remaining goblins]/[# of squares]) as the players move about, roll d% to determine if they pass adjacent to a goblin. To determine which goblin it is, roll randomly on your hp chart.

[Diarmuid]

Unless its pitch black and/or the goblins are hiding between attacks (make sure to read the rules on sniping) the PC's shouldn't have any problems identifying what squares have goblins in them. Shadowy illumination doesn't prevent line of sight or line of effect, it just gives miss chance.

[limejuicepowder]

ah crap....is the darkness spell different in pathfinder? I distinctly remember reading that darkvision worked inside a darkness spell.

the point of the darkness is the miss chance - I want the players to struggle a little, not flail around blindly. Even against goblins of CR 1/3, they would die pretty quickly, given the conditions.

Is there some other way to give a miss chance/create the situation I outlined?

[tyckspoon]

ah crap....is the darkness spell different in pathfinder? I distinctly remember reading that darkvision worked inside a darkness spell.

the point of the darkness is the miss chance - I want the players to struggle a little, not flail around blindly. Even against goblins of CR 1/3, they would die pretty quickly, given the conditions.

Is there some other way to give a miss chance/create the situation I outlined?

Yeah, the Pathfinder version of Darkness just lowers light levels by one step (full light->dim->dark) and Darkvision works normally in it. If you're playing Pathfinder/backporting the spell you could use it, although it should be noted that it'll have basically same effect as just shutting off all the mundane lights in 3.5- with Pathfinder's Darkness, mundane light sources can't lighten the area (so the natural prevailing darkness.. uh, prevails) and lower-level Light spells don't work.. which means your party either has to Dispel the Darkness patches if they want to see anything, or somebody has to be packing Daylight. Which is a spell you pretty much *only* use if you were expecting to be dealing with Darkness in the first place.

In the 3.5 rules, the best thing for your players to do would probably be to use Darkness as a source of illumination themselves; the goblins can't remove it and it's equally disadvantageous to both sides.

[Gavinfoxx]

In 3.5e rules, if you have Darkvision, the spell Ebon Eyes lets you overcome even magical darkness.